Review: “The Best of Being Catholic,” by Kathy Coffey (Orbis Press, August 2012).

OK, so I know the author, co-taught freshman writing classes with her back when, and for 20-some years co-edited Leaven, a small magazine for “Vatican II Catholics.”

I knew she was working on this book (latest of 14 since mid-1990s). But I suddenly find that it’s out and that I very much want to recommend it – perhaps as a gift for some discouraged Catholics you may know (even yourself), or for young folks who’ve just drifted away.

I admit when I heard she was working on this topic I hesitated. She says she did as well when an editor asked her to write it. So much bad news these days about Catholicism. Was it to be just another counterbalancing catalog, some long list of “good things?” Another report on “why I stay Catholic [nonetheless]”? Another theological argument about why we “should stay”?

Actually, none of the above – or some of all that, but in a refreshingly affirmative and very readable format. It’s realistic, critical at times, reflective, suggestive – with the good poet’s eye for endless detail and concreteness, but the good writer’s ability to move things even while reaching deep and wide.

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